Last week, a unanimous collection of municipal politicians from
across greater Toronto formally requested the province allow further
use of red light cameras, and to give local police the option of
installing speed imaging devices on city streets. If Queen’s Park
agrees, suddenly the warnings on the Don Valley Parkway about “Zero
Tolerance” for speeding could become true. The City of Toronto’s DVP
and Gardiner Expressway are posted 90 and 100 kilometers an hour,
and given the design and condition of the highways, those speeds
seem reasonable. Compared to some flatter, wider and less congested
provincial highways, one can only fantasize about exceeding the
posted limit on the DVP.
The idea of
speed cameras on 400-series expressways upsets many drivers, but
public opinion may support their use on local streets. Aurora Mayor
Tim Jones says "I think you'll find that pretty well unanimously
amongst every mayor in the GTA, one of the biggest day-to-day
concerns expressed to us by residents in our towns, cities and
municipalities is speeding and traffic issues."
Main arterial
roads in the 905 area code are marked at 60 to 80 klicks an hour,
and don’t seem to be the target for local discontent -- except for
the bad traffic, of course. In suburban areas, the biggest
anti-speed sentiment occurs along school zones and minor arterial
roads. Speed humps and traffic calming are slowly coming to 905, but
usually only when a street is being reconstructed.
Because many
residential streets wind around going nowhere, the local arterials
have become inundated with cars. Mr. Jones says, "We've got a number
in Aurora that people are using to avoid intersections. With the
traffic the way it is these days, obviously people are looking for
the shortest means to get from A to B. They cut through community
streets and they forget they're not on the main street anymore, and
they're driving 60 through a 40 kilometer zone."
Are local speed
limits realistic for the way the roadways are designed? Says the
mayor, "I think for the most part they are. I would agree that there
may be some areas that are posted too low, but that's only because
there's been no other way to deal with [speeding]. Anything that's
under-signed, meaning less speed than perhaps it should be, is
usually is the result of a large resident lobby, and it's a
political reaction."
As previous
Traffic Guru columns have discussed, one of the main complaints
about photo radar revolves around the maximum posted limits on
provincial expressways. Says Mr. Jones, "I think the highway speed
at 100 (kilometers an hour) is low. Personally I think if I'm on the
404 or the 401, I should be able to do 110 -- or maybe 120. I think
they're under-posted."
Another
criticism of photo radar is that is more about generating money than
promoting safety. Says Mr. Jones, “‘Cash grab’ is such a misnomer to
me - that's the sort of scare-mongering [used by] anybody who
speeds. The reality is if you're speeding through an area that's
posted at one speed and you’re going significantly faster, you're
going to get nailed -- you're breaking the law.”
Pushing the
devil’s traffic advocate thing, I asked the mayor -- Isn’t it the
job of police to catch lawbreakers? He replies that while York
Region has just increased its budget to include 110 more police
officers, "Even with 110 -- probably even with 200 -- you just can't
be everywhere all the time.” Instead of catching speeders at the
side of a road with a radar gun, he says, “I'd rather see our police
handling a lot more of the other issues of the day that need
personal judgment and reaction."
Ed Drass,
National Post
Email the
Traffic Guru at
edrass@nationalpost.com or fax him at 416-322-7016